With the proliferation of ICT equipment and the pedagogical approaches underpinning it, the concept of virtual learning platforms has emerged in several educational systems. This study, entrusted by the Caisse des dépôts to European Schoolnet, offers an analysis of policies and initiatives in the field of virtual learning platforms in Denmark, the United Kingdom and Spain (Andalusia and Catalonia).

The first part of this study report provides a summary of each national situation according to a common structure that addresses key features of existing platforms, the services they offer, the status of their deployment, their modes of deployment and governance, their uses and the success factors determining their wider deployment. The second part of the report compares these three national situations in terms of these aspects and identifies common points and differences.

Definitions of digital workspace

To conduct the analysis, some definitions of digital workspace were taken into account. The French Ministry of Education defines a digital workspace as an institutional information and communication system, offering each user simple, dedicated, secure access to the tools and content he/she needs for his/her activity in the education system. In order to specify the services expected and its technical recommendations, the Ministry has drawn up the SDET (Schéma directeur des espaces numériques de travail, Digital Workspace Master Plan), which addresses, among other matters, questions of interoperability, authentication, authorisation, and single sign-on.

The Department for Education and Skills in the UK has defined a VLE as follows: “It is an umbrella term that describes a broad range of ICT systems used to deliver and support learning. As a minimum, we expect it to combine communication and collaboration tools, secure individual online working space, tools to enable teachers to manage and tailor content to user needs, pupil progress tracking and anytime/anywhere access.”

In all cases, these definitions refer to the concepts conditioning the design of virtual learning platforms implementation.

The State of Deployment

The implementation of virtual learning platforms is almost universal in Denmark, but still marked by weak development of educational uses. Elsewhere, deployment is more limited, affecting 40% to 55% of schools, and use by pupils and parents is lower than that by teachers.

In Denmark, 97% of state schools in compulsory education currently use a virtual learning platform. According to an evaluation study conducted by EVA15 in 2009, administrative and organisational uses (bulk orders of material, booking of classrooms, etc.), as well as communication between teachers and with parents are much more developed than the educational uses.

However, as in other European countries, in the United Kingdom, Catalonia and Andalusia, 40-55% of state primary and secondary schools use a virtual learning platform. Deployment is generally considered slower than expected although it continues to progress each year. The complexity of the partnerships developed, the multiplicity of the skills needed to master the entire process, the variety and novelty of the uses being developed are mentioned in particular to explain this situation.

Denmark, the United Kingdom, Andalusia and Catalonia all show phased deployment, in some cases even slower than expected. In all cases, a simultaneous or consecutive combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches is found, except in Andalusia, which favours a clearly top-down approach. However, clear differences appear in the degree of prescription as regards platforms, resulting in a level of diversity that varies from one country to another. But ultimately, whatever deployment motivations and strategies are applied, progress takes time.

Use

Everywhere, the uses for communication, essentially among teachers, are those most developed; in Denmark, they also involve parents. Everywhere, too, educational uses are insufficiently practised. The use of virtual platforms for management and organisation (booking rooms, ordering materials, etc..) is seen everywhere, with varying intensity. In the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent in Andalusia and Denmark, the virtual platforms are also used as systems for managing large volumes of administrative information on schools and pupils.
Educational uses, i.e. those related to processes that transform information into knowledge through the interaction between teachers and pupils, are limited everywhere. Also, pupils play little part in the exchanges that are organised on virtual platforms; their participation is limited to the work to be done, uploaded by teachers. This finding may be explained by the absence of a pedagogical model that would exploit the specific characteristics of virtual platforms to develop innovative teaching practices, based on active learning by pupils rather than on perpetuating a traditional pedagogy of transmission from teacher to pupil.

Positive synergy is, however, observed in Denmark, between certain characteristics of the education system, such as the autonomy of teachers and pupils’ teamwork on projects, and the educational use of virtual platforms. These platforms are also found to be increasingly used by pupils when it comes to continuing their schoolwork after class time (which in Denmark ends around 1.30 pm, also meaning that teachers are more available to monitor and help their pupils online).

Key success factors

Three key success factors emerge: the participation of teachers in the whole process from conception and throughout its implementation; pragmatism and patience in a deployment that takes time; and finally, the availability of resources (technical support, training, communication, financing, etc.). In terms of both participation and pragmatism, Denmark is a striking illustration.

Stakeholders consider as another success factor putting the technology from the outset at the service of pedagogy. This is particularly the case in Andalusia, and also in Catalonia. The organisation of many online courses for teachers themselves has also perhaps contributed to providing them, when they were in the position of the learner, with a pedagogical model they were later able to replicate for their pupils. The mobilisation of a territory to support its development through education, and especially for the modernisation of education, is another success factor clearly seen in Scotland, through the GLOW platform, and in Andalusia and Catalonia.

Download the full report (pdf)